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Finishing a puzzle as pleasurable as completing academic research Powerful volcanoes raise new questions about ancient Mars TRENDS
World’s sharpest X-ray beam developed Termites’ weapon against extermination? Their own poop Soon, ‘therapeutic’ brain cells to treat patients Prof Yash
Pal Prof Yash Pal Aquatic animals inhale dissolved oxygen from water for respiration. However, they may also be releasing some gas into water. If so, why does the oxygen content in water not decrease and the combination not result in the formation of new gases? |
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Finishing a puzzle as pleasurable as completing academic research
FINISHING that last piece of a puzzle is as pleasurable as an academic completing a chunk of research, according to the neuroscientist Daniel Bor. The University of Sussex doctor says ‘pattern spotting’ is something that can be immensely satisfying to both scientists and non-scientists alike — and both will be able to pit their wits from today in what promises to be one of the toughest puzzle challenges ever set. Physics World is celebrating its 25th anniversary by publishing the first of five perplexing tests devised by staff at the UK Government’s Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). They will arrive in a number of different varieties, the first of which appears on the magazine’s blog as a jumbled set of letters across three lines which need to be deciphered before arriving at a physics-themed answer. GCHQ recently used a similar cryptic code that potential employees needed to crack if they wanted to join. Those attempting the Physics World challenge may want to follow advice on the national listening post’s website to get a head start. Their messages were encoded by rearranging the letters or words, or by adding extra letters — a technique called “padding” — and unusual letters like X and Z were often used. The five puzzles coincide with a special issue of Physics World that looks back at some of the highlights in physics over the last 25 years and looks forward to where the subject is going next. The issue includes the editorial team’s choice of the top five discoveries in fundamental physics over the last quarter of a century as well as the five best images from the same period that have allowed us to ‘see’ a physical phenomenon or effect. Landmark discoveries include the accelerating expansion of the universe — for which the 2011 Nobel Prize was awarded — and the sighting at CERN of the Higgs Boson. Quantum teleportation, Bose-Einstein condensates and the experimental proof that neutrinos have mass make up the rest of the top five discoveries. “We think the puzzles are going to really stretch even the brightest minds,” says Matin Durrani, editor of Physics World. “You won’t need any physics to solve them, but they are certainly going to make you think and they’re a fun way to celebrate our 25th anniversary. I also hope our top fives in the birthday issue of Physics World will remind everyone just how vital, enjoyable and interesting physics can be.” Today’s puzzle will be followed by another, progressively harder, one every Tuesday throughout October and participants will be able to submit their answers into the system/text box which will immediately tell them if they are right or wrong. The only prize at stake is pride, but should competitors sail through the quintet of puzzles they may want to consider a career at GCHQ. UK Defence Secretary Phillip Hammond announced at this week’s Conservative Party conference that staff from the ‘doughnut’ will be working with the British army to develop a new cyber strike force. Alternatively they might like to stick with a theme and turn their attentions to another, slightly tricker, unsolved physics problem — like identifying dark matter. — The Independent |
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Powerful volcanoes raise new questions about ancient Mars ANCIENT Mars was home to giant volcanoes capable of eruptions a thousand times more powerful than the one that shook Mount St. Helens in 1980, scientists said. The finding raises fresh questions about conditions on Mars in its early years, a time when scientists believe the planet was much more Earth-like with a thick atmosphere, warmer temperatures and water on its surface. Major volcanic eruptions likely would have triggered climate shifts that toggled Martian temperatures between cold spells when ash blocked sunlight and heat waves and greenhouse gases filled the skies, according to scientists. Supervolcanoes may have made it more difficult for life to evolve on the planet’s surface, but underground steam vents and the release of water into the atmosphere also could have created niches for microbes to thrive, said geologist Joseph Michalski of the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona. The discovery of supervolcanoes on Mars comes from analysis of images from a quartet of Mars orbiters over the past 15 years. These types of volcanoes, also known as “caldera” volcanoes, are ancient, collapsed structures rather than steep, cone-shaped or domed mountains like Olympus Mons on Mars, a so-called shield volcano that stands nearly three times taller than Mount Everest, the highest peak on Earth. “We know a lot about the volcanic history of Mars over the last 3 billion to 3.5 billion years, but that still leaves about 1 billion years before that over which we don’t really know anything about volcanism,” geologist Michalski told Reuters. Some scientists theorised that the oldest Martian volcanoes had eroded away, but the new findings suggest a different kind of volcano existed long ago. “If early Mars saw a lot more explosive volcanism, then the features that are left from that don’t look like those shield volcanoes. That’s maybe why we didn’t see them,” Michalski said. Scientists say supervolcanoes erupt with about 1,000 times the force of typical volcanoes like Mount St. Helens in Washington state. The eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980 blasted the top off the mountain, killed 57 people and, according to the US Geological Survey, shot ash, steam, water and debris about 80,000 feet into the air. Evidence of past supervolcanoes on Earth has been erased by plate tectonics and other geologic activities. Michalski actually was studying Martian impact craters, not looking for volcanoes. “We made the discovery by accident,” he said. “As I went through (the images) of this one region, I found a number of them that were simply not impact craters,” he said. “One was clearly a volcano. ... It is quite possible there are many more of these,” Michalski added. Because the emission of gases from volcanoes helps create a planet’s atmosphere, understanding the volcanic history of Mars is crucial to figuring out what the planet — the fourth from the Sun — was like in its early years. Additional evidence may come from NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover, which is heading toward a 5-km high mound of deposits called Mount Sharp. The rover touched down inside a giant impact basin near the planet’s equator in August 2012 to assess if Mars ever had the chemistry and environment to support and preserve microbial life. “There are thousands of layers of rocks in Mount Sharp and they contain a long record of geologic history,” Michalski said. “There could be interlayered rocks that are ash beds, and we predict that and we hope that the rover can test it,” he said. The research appears in the journal Nature. |
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World’s sharpest X-ray beam developed BERLIN: Scientists have successfully generated the world’s sharpest X-ray beam which is 10,000 times thinner than a strand of hair. This fine beam of X-ray light barely 5 nanometres in diameter, created by researchers led by Professor Tim Salditt from the University of Gottingen, allows focusing on smallest details. “Instead of a common lens, we use a so-called Fresnel lens which consists of several layers,” said co-author Dr Markus Osterhoff. The central support is a fine tungsten wire with the thickness of only a thousandth of a millimetre. Around the wire, nanometre-thin silicon and tungsten layers are applied in an alternating way. The physicists then cut a thin slice from the coated wire. Termites’ weapon against extermination? Their own poop ORLANDO: Scientists trying to understand why destructive wood-eating termites are so resistant to efforts to exterminate them have come up with an unusually repugnant explanation. Termites’ practice of building nests out of their own feces creates a scatological force field that Florida scientists now believe is the reason biological controls have failed to stop their pestilential march all over the world. Soon, ‘therapeutic’ brain cells to treat patients TORONTO: Scientists have moved closer to growing “therapeutic” brain cells in the lab that can be re-integrated back into patients’ brains to treat a wide range of neurological conditions. According to a new study, brain cells from a small biopsy can be used to grow large numbers of new personalised cells that are not only ‘healthy”, but also possess powerful attributes to preserve and protect the brain from future injury, toxins and diseases.
— Agencies |
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THIS UNIVERSE Aquatic animals inhale dissolved oxygen from water for respiration. However, they may also be releasing some gas into water. If so, why does the oxygen content in water not decrease and the combination not result in the formation of new gases? Probably the oxygen content does decrease a little, and other gases, perhaps some oxides of oxygen and nitrogen, are formed. I do not believe the pollution level due to these is serious. Do electrons, protons and neutrons have any colour? You have asked me about the colour of elementary particles like electrons, protons, etc. I think this is because the word ‘colour’ is beginning to be used in particles physics to denote specific quantum numbers. But if I were to stay away from the world of quarks, where we still deal with virtual particles and not those that have made physical appearance, then I would say that you couldn’t define the colour of fundamental particles. You can, however, well define the physical colour of atoms and molecules. This colour is very specific to the atoms or molecules we are dealing with, even the specific states of those particles. Indeed such colours, and detailed spectra of astronomical objects enable us to determine their chemical composition and temperature distribution. If the speed of light changes with the change of medium, then how can we say that the speed of light is constant in the universe? We only say that the speed of light in vacuum is constant. It can be different in different media. Readers can e-mail questions to Prof Yash Pal at palyash.pal@gmail.com |
